Twisted Fate
by ExplodingBen
Summary: What if Dooku learned of Palpatine's treachery? What if the Confederacy of Independent Systems won the war, and the Republic was flung into chaos? This is the story of how the Clone Wars could have ended, and the story could have been. In Twisted Fate I plan to mix intrigue with action, and explore new story dynamics in this alternate universe adventure.
1. Echoes of Darkness

Rain patters on the metal rooftop outside, as Palpatine strides down the long hallway. Behind him walk two Rodian senators, dressed in simple blue and green suits. On one side, ancient paintings of far off worlds line the wall, while on the other, glass windows stretch from floor to ceiling, revealing the towering starscrapers surrounded in great storm clouds in the grey Coruscanti day.

Outside, a flash of light sears the air, and thunder ripples through the building.

"As I was saying," the senators to his left continues, "I believe we just need a military presence in the system. I think General Loathsom would not dare strike so deep into the sector if he sees a few cruisers in orbit and-"

Palpatine raises a hand, cutting him off. "My sincere apologies, but all Clone legions in that sector are occupied at the moment. For now, all there is to do is to be vigilant, and wait."

"But we've been waiting for months!" the Rodian exclaims. "There's an entire fleet waiting, not two parsecs away. If you cannot send any troops it will only be a matter of time until Loathsom's forces invade Rodia!"

The explosion echoes through the air in a furious shockwave of hate and anguish. The very floor itself trembles as if the very Force around him is suddenly thrown into disbalance. Darkness rips through the air, like tremors in the sky, and thunder bursts through the clouds, causing the windows to shake. Palpatine freezes as echoes of darkness seem to reach out through the very stars, the likes of which he has not felt since…

"Supreme Chancellor, are you okay?"

"Ahem, yes, yes, I am fine," he says calmly as the door to his office opens on queue.

As they walk into Palpatine's office, the door shuts automatically behind them. Palpatine walks past the monagery of ancient Sith artifacts lining the walls, feeling the Dark Side emanate from each one, as if they too sense the strange disturbance. Reaching the main chamber, Palpatine turns to look at the two Rodians.

"As I have said already, the Republic will send troops to your world as soon as it can, but unless the newest military expansion act passes, we must continue to make due with what we have," his voice turns bitter. "I believe this war has just taken a turn… for the worse."

The two senators look at eachother, their minds clearly surrendering their unease as they stand there uncomfortably.

"Now then," Palpatine tells them. "This meeting is over."

As the Rodians leave his office, Palpatine sits down in a black leather chair, and leans back to stare out the window at the rainstorm, and meditate.

Palpatine closes his eyes, and reaches across the galaxy through shear force of will, trying to gain a glimmer of what he could have just felt.

Pain. Fury. Bloodlust. Betrayal…?

Somewhere across the stars he feels a deep shock and hatred. Palpatine concentrates, meditates on his own anger and tries to see deeper. All he can see is a great shadow, clouding Palpatine's vision, and fraught with raw power. Power, that comes from fear, but yet, from some greater source as well; power, which clouds everything.

Though at this moment, Palpatine knows he is stronger with the Dark Side than he has ever been before, he still cannot grasp the true nature of the disturbance he just felt. He reaches out, drawing from the pain, and suffering of his own past, Palpatine focuses until he is lifted from the chair where he sits. Sparks of blue lightning fly from his fingertips and the whole room is illuminated in a strange, eerie light, yet still, all he sees are shadows. Echoes of darkness.

And with that, on that dark and stormy day, for the first time in many, many years, the Dark Lord of the Sith, is genuinely, and truly afraid.


	2. Kuat, Besieged

3 Standard months later, 20 BBY

"All hands to battle stations!" Admiral Wullf Yularen yells into the intercom. He stands on the bridge of the Venator-class warship, _Sentry_ , overlooking the field of stars ahead. Nearly a dozen other Venators, and twenty Acclamators orbit the world, assembled in a triangular formation, facing the oncoming fleet.

In the past few months the war has turned bitter. Confederate forces have driven deep into Republic space, and now massive Separatist fleets sweep across the sector. Now General Whorm Loathsom leads the attack on Republic fleet production on Kuat. Though the Grand Army has driven them back twice, the 447th, and 160th legions have taken heavy casualties, and been forced to retreat. Now the 501st is all that remains, as Loathsom's fleet prepares for a third attack.

Beneath them the planet is a green and blue marble, encircled by an enormous synthetic metal ring that housed the Kuat Drive Yards. If those Drive Yards fall, it will mean the end of a key Republic shipyard.

As he stares out into space, the doors to the bridge slide open, and Yularen turns to see none other than Anakin Skywalker step onto the bridge.

"Good to see you Admiral," they both salute reflexively, and Anakin walks over.

"Dare I ask what you're doing out of the cockpit..?" Yularen asks with a wary smile.

"Actually, I've got some good news," Anakin tells him. "The two twelveth is on their way now, and we should have some reinforcements in a cycle or two. All we gotta do is hold their fleet in space and try to keep those shipyards in one piece until the cavalry arrives, and cuts them off."

Yularen looks out at the oncoming fleet, "easier said than done."  
From out here it's hard to tell how many ships are coming, but Yularen counts a good twenty of the Separatist Providence-Class destroyers, and dozens of smaller Munificent frigates. Anakin doesn't need the Force to sense his concern.

"So what's the plan, Admiral?"

"We're going to hold the line here, and wait for them to attack. We have the advantage as long as we're close to the Rings."

Anakin nods; saluting once more, "I'll be in the hangar then."

As Anakin walks through the _Sentry_ 's many corridors, he thinks about how quickly the Separatists got here. It's a bold move, even for General Loathsom, and Anakin knows it. Still, all that matters right now, is holding out until help arrives.

The hangar is a large, rectangular durasteel room protected by an energy shield that looks out of a huge central corridor, which all the Venator's hangars are connected to. Warm, white light gives shines across the large room. Already clones are climbing into ARC-170s and V-19s, ready to take off. Maintenance droids patrol the hangar, carrying cords of fuel, and power cells. As Anakin steps in he sees his own fighter, a yellow painted _Actis_ -class interceptor sitting in at the end of the bay, polished and ready for combat.

Nearby sits his padawan, Ahsoka Tano, leaning against her own _Actis_ , a brown and green ship in the same model as Anakins. Ahsoka is small for her age, and a bit thin; her Togruta head tails not yet fully grown. Her confident smile makes it strange to think how young she is.

"Ready to go?" Ahsoka asks as Anakin walks over.

Ahsoka speaks confidently, but Anakin can sense how nervous she is.

"Don't worry snips," he tells her. "When we get out there, just follow my lead and you'll be fine."

"Don't worry about me master," she says. "Just try to keep that head of yours on your shoulders."

Just then a young clone pilot jogs over, and pauses to salute Anakin, "Wraith Squadron is ready to go sir. Just give the order."

Only a few minutes pass when the alarm goes off. A high pitched ringing fills the hangar, and red lights flicker on the ceiling.

Anakin wastes no time, sprinting to his ship. The windshield is already open and ready to go when he vaults across the side of the ship into the cockpit. Inside, Anakin's Astromech, R2D2 is beeping in binary, and sending signals to the ship's computer systems.

The ship hovers in the air for a second, gusts of wind flying in all directions, then soars out of the protective shield into open space. Behind him, Ahsoka's fighter follows closely behind.

The squadrons comlink systems open up, and the clone pilots sound off in turn.

"Wraith four, standing by."

"Wraith six, standing by."

"Wraith three, standing by."

The squadron flies out into open vacuum, and Anakin can see the enemy fleet approaching.

"Wraith five, standing by," another clone's voice says.

"Wraith two, standing by," this time it's Ahsoka's voice, as she flies close by.

As the other pilots sound off, the fleet comes fully into view. Out here, it looks ever larger than before. A huge maw of _Providences_ fly, in a sort of ring toward the Republic fleet, with four smaller _Munificents,_ powering toward the fleet in front.

"Those _Munificents_ will get on top of our fleet and tear us apart if we let them," Anakin tells the squad, "but they only have armor on top. All we have is to attack from the side, and take out their turbolasers before they can reach our cruisers."

As the squadron approaches, the _Munificents_ fly closer together, in a protective diamond shape, with one frigate on top leading the charge. To either side, Republic fighter squads speed toward the Separatist fleet alongside them. To either side, Anakin can see four Arc fighters, with Ahsoka in her interceptor behind.

Suddenly a burst of red light rips through the vacuum, striking a the wing of a nearby V-Wing, which bursts into a stream of grey smoke. Anakin looks ahead, to see a hundred tiny grey dots drift in formation toward the squadron.

"We got Vultures," a clone calls out.

For a single moment, everything is quiet. Then the star field explodes with laser bolts. Red blasts of plasma sear through space, as the Vulture droids ahead open fire.

"Fan out and accelerate!" Anakin shouts.

The fighters spread out, and zoom forward. The Vultures are almost upon them now, tiny black-silver shapes firing hundreds of red blasts toward Wraith Squadron. The pilots see the Vultures spread out into a huge wall of starfighters. They move as a single shape, like a swarm of Vripp Wasps closing on their prey.

"Look out!" Anakin shouts, barrel rolling to the side to avoid a bolt of plasma that screams through the vacuum by his left wing.

Vulture's surround the squadron on all sides, just barely missing as they fly through the swarm. Just then an explosion rips through the Vultures to the right of the squadron. Then one to the left. White sparks burst out from the droid fighters on either side, half blinding the pilots as they fly.

"Keep pushing through!" a new clone voice calls through the intercom, "Thunder Squadron is here to help."

Republic Torrent fighters cut through the Vultures to either side, forcing them to pull away from Anakin's squadron.

"Now's our chance!" a voice shouts. "We're almost there!"

As the squadron reaches the end of the swarm, they pull up toward one Munificent frigates above the others, and accelerate toward the front of it's hull. It's more quiet now. Out here the fighters are out of range of the Separatist destroyers, and being just above the Munificents bridge, the frigates can't hit them with their turbolasers.

"Pull up and get above their armor," Anakin tells the squad.

"Hope they don't have anymore fighters hiding in there.." says Wraith Four.

"Ah, don't be so paranoid," Wraith three responds. "Those frigates don't even have hangars."

Ahsoka has been uncharacteristically quiet the whole time, and Anakin can sense she's on edge.

The fighters soar up, straight above the Munificent armored hull, then pause for a moment, and circle back down, dropping toward the ship. At the last second, they move to the side, and dive underneath the frigate.

Beneath the Munificent it's dark, for a second, and everything seems strange and peaceful. They fly between the four ships, which have yet to break their diamond formation. Suddenly the ships hundred laser batteries open up, throwing spears of red and green light down at the squadron.

"Watch out for those turbolasers!" calls Wraith Four.

A laser bolt hits Wraith Five's ARC fighter head on, cutting through his wing and leaving a trail of colorful sparks. "Just a glancing shot.." he mutters.

The circle the Munificents underbelly, dodging lasers and firing on it's hull.

"Shields estimated at seventy-six percent," Ahsoka says quietly.

"Ahsoka are you-" Anakin begins, but before he can finish a sudden flash of white light to one side cuts him off.

Anakin turns in the cockpit, to see Wraith Five's ARC seem to turn to one side as one of it's engines bursts. A jet of light spits out of the engine as it's side opens up.

"Keep it calm now," Wraith Seven tells him. "Just-"

Multicolored fire explodes out from Wraith Five's cockpit, and all of a sudden the whole fighter rips apart in a blast of vaporized metal.

Anakin flinches, then turns back to the controls, "just focus on those batteries."

As Anakin looks back he's almost on top of a turbolaser on the underside of a wing.

Grabbing the controls, he pulls to the side as a searing red laser flies past. He looks back to the laser. It's maybe thirty meters away. He doesn't think he can pull up in time. Almost on instinct Anakin opens fire on the cannon, pushing through the blast as the cannon detonates.

"Looks like those Vultures we shook are coming back around, "says Wraith Five, "picking up multiple squadrons locking on to our position."

Just as he says it, the screen on Anakin's control panel flashes red. He looks over to see a massive swarm of Vulture droids zooming toward them.

"Ahsoka, go with Wraith Six and Eight, get those Vultures!" Anakin calls out.

"On it Skyguy," Ahsoka pulls her ship around to give Anakin a wry salute, then drops back to help the other two pilots.

Hopefully Thunder Squad should be coming around to help out soon. As the three fighters break off, Anakin whirls and opens fire on the Munificent, taking out two more cannons.

Ahsoka can do this, Anakin tells himself. He knows she's a good pilot, despite her age, and he knows she'll be fine. He just hopes she knows that too. As the turbolasers keep firing, Anakin barrel rolls to the side, avoiding another laser bolt, as he fires on the frigates underbelly. As the space behind him opens up with spears of light, and exploding droids, Anakin tries to concentrate on what he's doing.

"There's too many!" Wraith Six voice.

"We need to get them away from the squad!" Ahsoka's.

"Where's the fragged reinforcements!?" demands Wraith Eight.

Anakin can see on his computer screen the three Republic fighters surrounded by droids, "get out of there!"

As the three ships start to pull away, Wraith Eight keys his comlink again, "I'm surrounded! I can't shake em'!"

Cringing, Anakin turns his ship around to see the lone ARC, being chased in a circle a dozen Vultures, and several Tri-fighters. "Just hang in there Eight!"

The ARC dives sideways, narrowly avoiding a spear of light, which ricochets into the wing of the Munificent. Anakin makes a sharp left turn to follow, still maybe 600 meters behind the droid fighters. Putting full power into the Actis' thrusters, he shoots forward toward the fighters, and fires twice on the Vultures. One of them bursts into flames.

"I'm hit!" Red Eights voice shouts through the radio, and sure enough a trail of smoke is wisping from one of his wings.

Anakin doesn't respond, but instead keeps trying to lock onto the fighters.

Locked on.

He fires, his laser cannon streaking through the vacuum, and taking out another Vulture just as the one he hit early explodes.

The smoke trailing from Red Eight's wing is getting worse, "I can't get em' off my tail!"

"Master…" Ahsoka's voice now, a hint of urgency in it.

Anakin swoops past a point defense laser on the bottom of a frigate, eliminating another Vulture in a burst of bright red light.

Red Eight pulls into a hard turn to his left, and the droid squadron follows in tandem. Anakin dodges a volley of laserfire with a well timed barrel roll.

He's so close now..

A horde of tiny shapes strikes Anakin's Actis, clinging to the side. He stares out the windshield to see three red eyes. Buzz droids.

"Artoo!"

In a flurry of blue sparks, the astromech extends a prodding claw, zapping at a buzz droid.

Anakin doesn't have time for this. He's _so close_.

Another volley of laserfire takes out two more Vultures.

"Uhh, Skyguy!?" Ahsoka yells.

Why did she have to start talking again, _now?_

R2 electrocutes another buzz droid, and it goes flying off the fighter.

Anakin is closing the distance fast, maybe fifty meters from the ARC.

"I've taken too much damage!" Red Eight's ship is smoking from the thrusters, and now flames trail from two of it's wings.

Anakin locks onto a Vulture, sending a proton torpedo into it's head.

Everything seems to slow down. All that's left is the Tri-Fighters.

He can't lock on.

Anakin tries, desperately to get a shot at the first Tri-Fighter, but it keeps rolling back and forth, just avoiding his shots. It's round form dodges across Anakin's view port. Red Eight's not going to last long.. But if he can just get a shot...

"Anakin!"

 _Boom!_

The ARC seems to collapse in on itself as the Tri-Fighters shot cuts into it's cockpit. Then, in an instant it explodes outwards, instantly vaporized in a cloud of ionized white particles.

"Ahsoka!" Anakin yells into his com, "why would you!-"

Just then a great shadow falls over the whole squadron.

As the Munificents separate, widening the diamond formation, a great, dark shape flies through the middle. Circling away from the Vultures, Anakin turns in his seat once more to see a massive Providence-class Dreadnought, suddenly charging at full engine power straight toward the Republic fleet.

In the darkness the fighters of Wraith Squadron scrambles, darting around to avoid being crushed by the enormous warship.

"Anakin!" Yularens voice calls out through the comlink, "What in the stars are you doing!? Fall back! Now!"

Then the ships are lit up with plasma and fire.


	3. Shadows Across the World

Whorm Loathsom looks out over the star field, and sighs.

Out, away toward the planet, he can see the Republic fleet being ripped through by his own ships. From the bridge of his personal battleship, he sees bright flashes of red and blue, dotted with tiny flashes out of orange and white bursts. The Republic fleet is cornered, and now all he must do is wait.

From behind him a voice speaks in a stern, commanding tone, "I trust the battle is nearly over by now."

Loathsom whirls around to see the holographic image of none other than Count Dooku himself standing projected from the wall in front of him. Loathsom's eyes grow wide with surprise.

He kneels, "of course my lord. The Republic fleet is cornered. T'won't be long before we have taken the shipyards."

Dooku's eyes narrow, "you'd best be quick about it. Considering your previous failures, I'm taking quite the risk putting you in command of this fleet."

"Of course m'lord."

Red spears of light cut through the darkness, and Wraith Squadron scatters.

"All ships pull back!" Anakin calls out. "Pull back!"

The massive form of the Providence is lit up by it's laser fire as it sails through space, engines running at top speed. Anakin pulls back hard on his Actis controls, and it whirls around, shooting toward the Republic fleet. These fighters are fast than that dreadnought, Anakin knows, but there's no way they're going to make it.

Vulture droids swarm across the squadron, and Anakin looks over to see a squadron almost on top of one of his pilots, as the ARC fighter flees the Providence. The tiny ship spins around, desperately trying to shake the droid fighters as his wing his hit. He keeps going, dodging a barrage of laser fire from the droids. In an second a bolt of plasma cuts straight through his fighter, as the dreadnought fires from one of it's many turbolasers, and the pilot is gone.

Anakin flies to the right of the Providence. He's slowly gaining distance from it, but it's so fast that even in his Actis it's a struggle to stay ahead.

"Master! We're _not_ gonna make it!" Ahsoka shouts through the comms system.

"I've been in tighter spots than this one!" he yells back. "Yularen!"

"Yes sir?" the Admiral responds.

Good, he's still listening in.

"I need you to send a ship out to come get us! The Separatist fleet is closing fast, and we're about to be droid bait out here if we don't get some help, now!"

"That might not be too simple," the Admiral responds. "If we send a cruiser out there now, it will be torn apart."

Two more plasma bolts shoot past Anakin's fighter.

"If you don't send it out.." Anakin says through gritted teeth, " _we'll_ be torn apart!"

With the Separatist fleet closing in fast, the squadron has less distance to travel to return to the safety of Kuat's ring than before. The fighters of Wraith Squadron are past the Providence now, but it's still firing with everything it's got. Ahsoka estimates they're maybe 8000 meters from the Republic ships. From his cockpit, Anakin sees fifty red dots light up on Actis' computer as the Providence launches it's vulture droids.

Anakin is dodging lasers with every passing moment. He can't focus on anything but avoiding bolts of red plasma. He can sense them coming, can sense the droid starfighters approaching fast. Behind him, a squad of Hyena bombers follow the Vultures, preparing their weapons to attack the Republic fleet.

"I've got buzz droids!" one of the pilots shouts. "They're all over me!"

 _Boom!_

Buzz droids cut through the ARC fighters cockpit, and Anakin turns to see the tiny robot saws tear the 170 to pieces; it's wings flying off to either side as it detonates in a burst of white plasma.

Up ahead the Republic fleet is opening up on a swarm of droid starfighter, and a couple smaller frigates which are rapidly approaching the ring on the left. They are still just out of range of the drive yards automated laser defense systems.

Another ARC explodes as a Vulture crashes into it's side.

They're practically surrounded. Fighters are being picked off right and left, blasted into pieces of multi-colored plasma.

"Yularen!" Anakin shouts into his communicator. "We could really use that escort ship right about now!"

Yularen doesn't answer. Maybe something in the Providence is interfering with the signal.

The Venator's still haven't broken formation as they fire on the droids. The Providence is coming so quickly, that they wouldn't possibly have time to set up a better defense in time. But just on the edge of the fleet a single Acclamator begins to turn and move out toward the battlefield. Wraith Squadron is down to a handful of fighters, but they're so close. The Confederate ships that had broken off are moving toward the fleets right flank, trying to cut off any escaping ships.

Another ARC spirals into a dive and bursts into flames.

The Acclamator is getting closer now, but the Munificents are tearing into it's shields with laser fire.

"Just a little further!" Anakin yells into his comlink.

"Master!" Ahsoka shouts back. "I'm not gonna make it!"

"Just follow me!" Anakin's voice. "Head for that cruiser!"

Even if they make it to the ship, Anakin doubts the Acclamator will make it back to the fleet. The Hyena bombers are closing fast now, almost overtaking Wraith Squadron.

"I'm hit!" Ahsoka's voice. Everything seems to slow down.

"Ahsoka!" he shouts. "Keep going, I'm coming!"

Immediately Anakin pulls the ships into a hard turn, not even bothering to slow down he circles around to head straight toward the enemy fleet.

"What are you _doing_ Wraith Leader?" one of the clones demands, but Anakin doesn't answer.

Ahsoka's being tailed by a good two or three dozen Vultures. Long, black puffs of smoke smoke trail from her left wing as her astromech frantically tries to repair the damage.

Anakin fires on the Vultures, immediately obliterating two of them, as the rest spread out. For a second they all seem to turn to the left, then the right, as if surprised by Anakin's strange maneuver. Ahsoka's Actis flies beneath him, making a bee-line for the Republic fleet.

"Master!" there's panic in Ahsoka's voice. "You don't have to do this. I'm fine!" As her ship flies away, the Vultures seem to regroup, forming into a long line of fighters which spreads out in front of Anakin, slowly closing like a noose on his interceptor.

"Just go Ahsoka, I'm gonna hold them here."

Laserfire streaks the empty vacuum ahead as Anakin charges headlong into the open maw of droids.

He opens up on another Vulture, then another. Each explodes in turn as the maw of droids slowly closes in on the tiny interceptor.

 _Boom!_

The whole fighter rocks as the red beam of light cuts into the fragile Actis interceptor's front left wing.

Everything is spinning, Anakin can't seem to get a hold of the controls. The ship is twisting around toward them in a deadly barrel roll.

Time slows down as the second blast hits the Actis. This time it's on the bottom as it tumbles through space. This time the air inside the cockpit seems to heat up as everything shakes. But Anakin can see a bit better. The Republic fleet. Somehow he must have gotten turned around in the blast.

The Eta-2 Actis class interceptor isn't known for much. It's a small, one man fighter. It has no shields, nor a hyperdrive, and relies on the skills of the pilot to avoid being obliterated. But what it is known for is speed. And as Anakin pulls back on the accelerator, the Actis truly shines.

Laser bolts scream through the void around Anakin as his tiny ship jets forward. It's nearly out of fuel but he doesn't care. The Acclamator is right there. It is turned on it's side, so that the top of it's armored hull directly faces the Separatist fleet and the oncoming Providence. Around him though, Wraith Squadron continues taking some hits from the Vultures, but the Providence seems to have slowed down. Anakin doesn't look back. He doesn't slow down to question it as he rushes toward the Republic ship.

Up ahead, Ahsoka's ship still trails smoke, but she's almost at the Acclamator. The Republic vessels open up on the droid starfighters, covering Wraith Squadron's escape back to the fleet with volleys of blue plasma raining down on the Confederate ships. The air in Anakin's Actis is getting hard to breathe.

 _Frag._

One of the hits he took must have pierced the cockpit. Though Anakin knows the fact he can still breathe at all means it must be a tiny hit, he's still worried. He's going to have to dock as soon as possible, and probably find a new ship.

"You alright back there skyguy?" Ahsoka asks as the two ships glide toward the Republic fleet.

"Hey don't worry about me snips," he tells her, then more relaxed, "you did fine today Ahsoka."

The remaining fighters dock in the Acclamators troop transport bay, which at the moment is full mostly with Republic LAATs and AT-TEs. As Anakin and Ahsoka climb out of their interceptors, they see only three of the other pilots of Wraith Squadron arrive at the carrier. Anakin looks at what's left of his ship. One wing has a hole clean through it, while the other shot seemed to have hit the bottom of the cockpit. R2D2 ejects from his seat, looking dirty and very shaken, but unharmed.

As Ahsoka climbs out of her Actis, she walks over to Anakin's battered ship, "master.." she begins then trails off. "Look today.." she tries again. "With that pilot.. I wasn't trying to get him.."

"Ahsoka," Anakin puts a hand on her small shoulder. "Without you, none of us would've made it here in one piece. I don't know Loathsom was thinking using those frigates to distract us, but if you hadn't caught on.." now Anakin too finds himself at a loss for words.

They stand there for a long second. "Anyway," he continues. "We don't have time to sit around talking. This battle is far from over."

The ships war room is a dimly lit octagonal metal room with a holoprojector in the center. Around it stand a handful of the Acclamator's crew, standing at attention as they watch the screen; as well as the remaining pilots of Wraith Squadron, with Anakin and Ahsoka standing in front.

The projector glows blue to show a holographic Wullf Yularen, arms crossed, looking down at the two Jedi.

"While we are lucky enough to have you back at the fleet, it will not be long before Loathsom's fleet attempts a counter attack. I would suggest you return to the _Sentry_ immediately so that you can repair your fighter."

"Good to see you too, admiral," Anakin gives a tired smile. "How'd you get that Separatist dreadnought off our backs?"

"Actually sir," Yularen tells him. "I think I took a page from your book on this. I simply sent out that Acclamator to use as a shield. I knew Loathsom would be too smart to waste a dreadnought to ram our ships, so he was forced to order it to slow down while you escaped to the Acclamator," Yularen clears his throat, looking proud of himself. "And it worked out well if I do say so myself."

 _Boom!_ A sudden explosion rocks the ship, and the image of Yularen flickers.

"Sir, the Confederates are coming back around-" the transmission cuts off.

Anakin looks to one of the clone officers, "what happened!?"

The clone glances down at his datapad and furrows his brow, "it doesn't look the _Sentry_ took a hit sir, but this ship's communications array just got taken down!"

Another blast rocks the ship.

"Ahsoka! Follow me!" Anakin sprints out of the room, racing down the hallway with Ahsoka by his side.

They pass squads of clone troopers, frantically running through the halls to get to their battle stations.

"We need to get off this ship," Anakin tells Ashoka as the run. "If the Seppies are back we've gotta get back into the fight."

Ahsoka nods and keeps going.

The ship quakes with each hit as they rush to the hangar. In the early war, these Acclamators were the only capital ships the Republic had, and Anakin is well used to their layout. They pass through a cannon bay, where clone engineers man heavy turbolasers, firing out blue plasma at an oncoming frigate.

As they approach the hangar, an explosion of sparks burst forth from the ceiling of the hallway, as the Acclamator's and a long crack forms where is was.

"Shields are down!" a voice shouts through the intercom.

The ship is taking heavy damage now. It won't be able to hold much longer as is.

As they rush into the hangar, the two Jedi can see a Venator move up alongside the Acclamator, firing into the Separatist ships up ahead. Swarms of Hyena bombers circle the ship just outside the hangar's protective shields, raining down bombs on the assault ships unprotected hull.

Red warning lights light up the hangar as they reach their ships. Smoke still occasionally drifts from the battered form of Anakin's Actis. He's not going to make it ten meters in that thing. There's no time to think about this, he needs to get a ship.

Ahsoka is already climbing into her's, though it too has taken a hit. Clones are already rushing to the hangar's LAATs, probably evacuating to the other ships.

"Ahsoka!" Anakin calls to her. "Follow my gunship!"

She looks at him for a second, "got it."

Anakin rushes to an LAAT and climbs on. The small gunship is already nearly full of clone troopers, and the ship is just about to take off.

"Pilot, take this ship to Admiral Yularen's flagship."  
"Sir," the pilot respond, "our orders were to land at fueling station Delta on Kuat's surface."

"You're landing on the ground!?" Anakin demands, incredulous. The only way they could be headed for the ground is if the droids have broken through the Republic fleet, but that's impossible.

The LAAT takes off, rocking slightly back and forth as it leaves the hangar. Outside fighters, both Republic and otherwise dance through the vacuum, firing off plasma bolts as the 501st fleet tries desperately not to be overrun. There are no windows in the small gunship, but a glance into the cockpit shows Anakin everything he needs to see. The Republic ships are surrounded. Two Providence class dreadnoughts charge in from the front, wedging themselves into the Republic's fleet, and cutting it in half.

They've been beaten. The 501st fleet is defeated, and the Kuat Drive yards has been lost. Now all that's left to do is to hold the line on the ground as long as possible while they wait for reinforcements to arrive. It's happening so fast. Loathsom's forces have _already_ gotten through, and there's so many of them.

Ahsoka's small Actis follows closely behind as they fly out into the chaotic star field. The LAAT dips downwards towards the planet, Kuat's surface reflecting an eerie greenish-blue light into the gunships interior. The clones stand stalwart and calm, holding onto the handles on the ceiling for balance as they descend toward the upper atmosphere.

The gunship shakes as it flies down toward the green planet below, passing Kuat's low hanging ring of shipyards, which even now fire feudally on the CIS ships. The air outside takes a warm tint as everything heats up. As Anakin climbs into the cockpit to get a better view, he sees a massive expanse of blue and green. Silver lines criss-cross the green, massive highways stretching across the continents between supply depots.

Looking out into the distance, Anakin sees a swarm of dark shapes flying down toward the planet. Huge C-9979 landing craft descending toward the ground. A dark cloud of droids casting their shadow across the world. They'll have to reach the ground. They've lost the shipyards. They can't lose the ground.


End file.
